Monday Ramblings.

At the moment I am trying to ramp up the energy to head upstairs and take a shower so that I can get myself off to work on time. I’m looking forward to the drive and the workday so it’s not a matter of dread that has me not moving at moment. I actually think it’s just a matter of it being Monday morning.

I am discovering that I’m kind of getting sick of sarcasm. I can be one sarcastic bastard when I want to bed, but when it’s flung about everywhere I choose to be; in conversation, in blog entries, etc., I’m discovering it makes me a little cranky. It probably shouldn’t, but it does. I’m not thin skinned or anything like that, I’m just finding that drippy, gay bitchy, Bea Arthur wannabe sarcasm to be a little much these days.

Earthquakes are literally rocking the world, volcanic ash is spewing out from Iceland and people are getting downright crazy with their religious fervor. If I were just a tad bit crazier, I’d tell you that we are right on schedule with the “2012 entering a New Age because the Mayan calendar, the psychics and the aliens said so” stuff, but I won’t do that.

I’ll just shiny up the tin foil hat a bit.

19 April 2010 by Ponderings and Musings 2

Friday.

One of my coworkers just bought eight pizzas for lunch for the entire office to share. That’s kind of cool. I hope to do the same with tomato pie in the near future. In the meantime I have managed to get some hooked on pistachios.

I am using my new Droid to write this entry and it is not nearly as cumbersome as trying to do it on the iPhone. I have already sold the iPhone and am quite content with my mobile technology. Some may shun me for dropping my Apple affiliation but I am more concerned with functionality vs being one of the cool kids. I don’t wear pretention well, though at times I try. If I was in school today I’d probably wear a purple slushee a la “Glee” on an occasional basis.

I have always been one to do my own thing. I’m happy that that aspect of my personality remaind constant and I continue this quest called life.

16 April 2010 by Fun and Games Dept Geek Ponderings and Musings 2

Juiced.

So after much discussion with Earl, I have decided to get rid of my iPhone and get myself a Motorola Droid on Verizon’s network. There are a couple of reasons for this change in heart, especially since I just declared a couple of weeks ago that I was going to keep my iPhone until it died on it’s own.

The two prominent reason for the switch include the lack of 3G coverage from AT&T for 55 of the 60 miles of my commute, including the twin cities I work in. Another reason is that I can get a pretty good discount with Verizon through work, whereas I can’t with AT&T. I think it’s rather sad that AT&T can’t provide 3G coverage for large swathes of upstate New York whereas Verizon does.

I’m also not happy with Apple’s announcement that they will not support multitasking on the iPhone 3G but they will with the iPhone 3GS. I’m not going to ride out another two years of crappy service from AT&T just to upgrade my phone. I understand that I will have a new two year contract with Verizon but I think the service will be much happier.

Another thing that bothers me is that AT&T won’t let me tether my computer to my iPhone so I can use that data connection on the road. This is just made worse by the lack of decent service to begin with.

My MacBook Pro is starting to show signs of it’s age lately as well. I’m a little disappointed with this since it’s only 20 or so months old. I’m not an abusive user by any stretch of the imagination and for the premium price paid, the Mac should outlive me.

I think I’m going to pass on the next sip from the Kool Aid cup. It’s a good thing that I don’t feel defined by my cool toys.

14 April 2010 by Geek 2

Time Flies.

Has it really been 14 years since that first date that forever changed my life?

My heart soars and I still see fireworks when he walks into the room.

I am a very lucky man.

13 April 2010 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Connection.

So last night I met up with Arnie from Spirit of Saint Lewis for dinner. He is vacationing in the lovely Capital District of New York and since I work relatively close to this area, I got myself a hotel room (more on that in a later entry) and spent the night in Schenectady.

Arnie and I have been chatting online for quite a while and found each other through blog rolls. A year or so ago I had the opportunity to meet him in person, though we exchanged only a few sentences because we were with a group of people in a loud restaurant. I remember the food being good, though.

Anyways, through our online chatting, reading each other’s blogs and whatnot, we knew that we would have lots to talk about so when he said he was coming to town we decided to get together and do just that. And that we did.

There’s a lot of negativity in some of the blogs I read, mine included at times, I guess, but last night ran contrary to that and it was a refreshing change of pace. Just as we suspected we had lots to talk about. We had a wonderful meal at a bistro in downtown Schenectady and then spent the evening hanging out and such.

I knew at that restaurant a year or so ago that I would enjoy spending some time with Arnie and my suspicions were right. I look forward to doing it again the next time he is in town.

7 April 2010 by Fun and Games Dept 1

Strobelight.

So yesterday I received notice that season two American Idol contestant Kimberely Locke (she came in third, I believe) started following my tweets on Twitter. I must admit that I found this a little bit strange but then realized she must have started following me when I mentioned that I was working in the studio the night before. I mean, why else would Kimberely Locke start following a man who describes himself as a “technology geek with the heart of a country boy that loves his partner, likes guys and enjoys Macs, photography, travel and interesting facial hair.”?

I wasn’t as surprised by her this morning, however, when she sent me a Direct Message because the DM contained a mention that her new single “Strobe Light” (or is it “Strobelight”) was available on iTunes starting today. I took the bait and downloaded it and took a listen.

As a Top 40 radio program director (my actual title was “Director of Operations”) I used to listen and judge music for a living and whilst I’m not the best person in the world at this task, I do think that I have a pretty good ear. I always base my feelings on that first listen because there’s a good chance that a radio listener is going to be listening for the first time and if they don’t like what they hear they’re going to jump to another station.

At first I thought that iTunes had a bad copy of the record because the effect used on the first few bars of the song make it sound like it’s a warped 12-inch record. Okay. I guess we’re going for a retro song. I got past that weird thing and then into the track.

Kimberely’s voice soars along nicely in the track but honestly, it’s not that well written of a song. A few parts of the mix feel like she’s out of step with the rhythm track and the entire thing is not as DJ friendly as you would want a retro dance track to be. This is unfortunate.

My second impression of the song was that it was a rough copy, because there’s parts of the second verse where it just feels like they forgot to put some instrumentation in or something. Kimberely sings along just fine, but she outclasses the mix by a mile. She’s always been classy and frankly, I think she’s worthy of a better mix.

The hook is a little odd in that it focuses on a melody that moves in a downward motion instead of an upward motion. Yes, the contrariness of this will make it stick out, but when you’re singing lyrics about moving with the flow and soaring high and such, you don’t want the melody leading you down the basement stairs.

I enjoy Kimberely Locke very much and I wanted to love this record. It’s intentions are good. It’s a shame that the result is rather mediocre. If I were still spinning in the clubs, it’d be an early night record. If I were still on the radio, it’d be “lunar rotation”.

If you’d like to hear the track, a sample is available on YouTube. Click here!

6 April 2010 by Everyone's A Critic. 0

Scenery.

IMG_0259.jpg

It is scenery like this that makes me smile. It is scenery like this, as taken along my commute on “New Turnpike Road” that was a contributing factor to my change in jobs at the beginning of March. Today I drove home with all the windows down, the iPod playing my favorite tunes on the radio and the beautiful countryside gently rolling by.

Spring has sprung in these parts. And my heart is soaring.

1 April 2010 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Subway

The Subway (sandwich shop) closest to the office gets a lot of my business. They are the healthiest choice around for the days that I don’t pack a lunch and they are always busy. This store is situated in the only mall nearby (which has six stores) and is owned by a beautiful straight couple who appear to be hardworking. I like their attitude and their dedication to the store. Plus they’re not bad to look at and they also honor the Subway card points system where I basically get frequent flyer miles.

I always eat the same thing; I ask for a meal deal that includes a six inch veggie on wheat with no cheese and the red vinegarette dressing. I opt for baked chips and unsweetened iced tea. One day when my work badge was hanging out the wife noticed my name and now she calls me by name each time I pay for my order. I like that. She even does it when my badge is in my pocket as I tested my theory.

I was telling someone that part of why I’m enjoying my new job so much is because I’m working in a smaller town where people just seem nicer to me. Whenever I go to the Subway near the house I’m always grateful to get what I ordered without a side of spit. God they are surly at that store. Half the time you can put your tray on top of the trash bin when it’s time to go because the tray is stuck to the dirty table. That’s why we don’t go to the Subway near the house very much.

The new job has me working in a town that hearkens back to my days of growing up. Ironically, I now work for the same telephone company that serves my hometown. When I was in second or third grade I remember wondering what it would be like working for the phone company in our small town.

Now I know.

31 March 2010 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Visit.

My cubicle at work is on the end of the row closest to the windows. As I was up to my elbows in PHP and MySQL programming today, totally focused on the two monitors in front of me, I noticed a little bit of commotion outside of my cubicle. My co-workers were lining up and looking out the windows at our visitors.

IMG_0240.jpg

With this little visit from our friends in the woods and the ensuing conversation, I learned a little more about my co-workers. None of it was unpleasant.

29 March 2010 by Ponderings and Musings 1

Just Stop!

So a downstate elected official introduced a bill to ban the use of salt in restaurant kitchens in an effort to get the populous healthier. Do I find this intrusive? Of course I do. While moderating salt intake is a good idea, it is the responsibility of each individual to be sensible, not the government’s.

Now this same official has introduced a bill to require the use of helmets on ski slopes. He has admitted he’s never been skiing. Again, this is another attempt of an elected official to try to legislate personal responsibility. Helmets on skiiers and snowboarders? Yes, if they’re young children or if you want to but it shouldn’t be a law.

I believe this official, who’s name escapes me at the moment and I’m typing this in the car so I can’t look it up, should be relieved of his overzealous approach to governing the people at the earliest opportunity. However, I want this to go a step further.

If the folks in Albany truly cared about it’s citizens, they would introduce legislation that would split the state into two parts for bills of this nature. Elected officials that have never been north of Yonkers have no right to introduce laws that will affect people that live 400 miles away in an area that some in NYC describe as a “snowy Alabama”. This would be like a Buffalo legislator introducing a bill requiring the use of snowmobiles on all city streets in the state when there is more than two inches of snow on the ground. Upstate (north and west of Kingston) is an entirely different world than downstate and I firmly believe that both sides of that cultural divide would be better off if they split into two legislative districts. I don’t know how this would be accomplished but I wish someone would figure it out.

26 March 2010 by Why. 5

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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